The Role of DAM in Content Monetization

Content monetization refers to the process of generating revenue from digital assets. This can take various forms, including direct sales, licensing, syndication, and subscription-based access. The diversity of these models reflects the versatility of digital content itself. However, to effectively monetize content, businesses must first overcome the challenge of managing it efficiently. This is where DAM systems play a crucial role.

Centralised Asset Repository

A DAM system provides a centralised repository for all digital assets, making them easily searchable and accessible. This centralisation is crucial for monetization, as it allows businesses to quickly identify and leverage assets that are most likely to generate revenue. For instance, a media company can use DAM to track which images or videos have been most popular with its audience and then prioritise these for licensing or syndication.

Enhanced Discoverability with Metadata

Metadata is the hidden gem of content monetization. DAM systems enable the tagging of assets with detailed metadata, improving searchability and discoverability. For content creators, this means that potential buyers can easily find the assets they’re interested in. Whether it’s through keywords, usage rights, or content themes, enriched metadata ensures that digital assets don’t languish unused but are actively promoted and sold.

Streamlined Licensing and Rights Management

Monetizing content often involves navigating complex licensing agreements and copyright laws. DAM systems streamline this process by tracking usage rights and licensing information for each asset. This capability is indispensable for content creators who wish to licence their work to others. It ensures compliance with copyright laws and simplifies the process of managing royalties and permissions.

Opening New Revenue Streams

Beyond the traditional routes of content monetization, DAM systems open up new avenues for revenue generation. For example, by analysing usage data and content performance, businesses can identify trends and gaps in the market. This insight can guide the creation of new content that addresses unmet needs or capitalises on emerging trends, thereby generating new income streams.

Case Studies: DAM in Action

Several leading companies have leveraged DAM systems to monetize their content effectively. Getty Images, for instance, manages millions of images and videos, licensing them to businesses and media outlets worldwide. Their DAM system not only organises these assets but also facilitates the licensing process, making it easier for customers to find and purchase the content they need.

Another example is Netflix, which uses a sophisticated DAM system to manage its vast library of movies and series. This system supports Netflix’s subscription model by ensuring that content is easily accessible, streamable, and tailored to the viewing preferences of their global audience.

The Future of DAM and Content Monetization

As digital content continues to grow both in volume and variety, the role of DAM systems in content monetization is set to become even more critical. Advances in AI and machine learning are making DAM systems smarter, enabling them to offer predictive insights about content trends and viewer preferences. This evolution will further empower content creators, publishers, and marketers to monetize their assets more effectively.

DAM systems are not just about storing and organising digital assets – they’re a key enabler of content monetization. By providing tools for enhanced discoverability, streamlined licensing, and rights management, DAM platforms offer businesses and creators a path to unlock the full economic potential of their digital content. As the consumption of digital content continues to evolve, those who master the art of content monetization through effective digital asset management will undoubtedly lead the pack.

The Digital Asset Conundrum

Imagine, if you will, a world where every digital file – be it an image, document, or video – is rather like a wild horse galloping across the digital plains of your business landscape. Without a proper system, these digital assets can become unwieldy, leading to inefficiencies and frustration. This is where DAM gallops in for the rescue.

The Time-Cost Equation

Streamlining Search and Saving Time

Time lost in searching for assets is a silent profit killer. A study by Gartner highlighted that employees spend 2.5 hours daily searching for information. Multiply this across your workforce, and the cost becomes staggering. DAM systems streamline the search process, ensuring that the right assets are at your fingertips in a blink.

Risk Mitigation

Securing Your Digital Assets with DAM

Without DAM, your digital assets are like sitting ducks for various risks – be it security breaches, data losses, or misuse. DAM solutions provide robust security protocols and access controls, ensuring that your valuable assets are safeguarded against both internal and external threats.

Brand Consistency

Ensuring Uniform Brand Identity

In today’s brand-conscious age, consistency is king. DAM ensures that all your assets adhere to your brand guidelines, securing a coherent brand identity across various platforms.

Collaboration and Efficiency

Enhancing Teamwork and Productivity

DAM systems excel in promoting collaboration while maintaining efficiency:

• Seamless access, sharing, and editing of assets
• Minimising miscommunication and outdated versions
• Enhancing overall project workflow

Scalability and Flexibility

As your business expands, so does your asset library. DAM systems are designed to effortlessly scale with your increasing asset volume, ensuring sustained performance.

Taking the Leap Towards Operational Excellence

Implementing a DAM system is more than just organisational – it’s a leap towards operational excellence. In our current digital era, where content reigns supreme, having DAM is rather similar to possessing the queen in a game of chess – offering you a strategic advantage in digital dominance.

So, why delay? The race in digital asset management is not won by the tortoise but by the swift, organised, and efficient hare. Welcome to the world of Digital Asset Management – your business will undoubtedly thank you for it.

CiT Digital cracked the code to balance protections and usability with iMediaflow® . Their solution uses cutting-edge AI to automatically tag each asset with terms your employees actually use. Funnel cataloguing lets you upload files into intuitive category trees aligned to your business. The results are stunning: copyright confidence, GDPR compliance, and employees that can always find approved assets in seconds.

This article we’ll explore how you can implement a modern DAM like iMediaflow®  to tackle copyright infringement and lethargic search. Discover how funnel cataloguing and AI-powered TrueTagging provide the perfect balance of watertight protections and content availability. The outcome: a future-proof system your team will love to use.

The Threat to Your Unprotected Assets

Digital assets are your business’s lifeblood. Your images, videos, documents and more contain invaluable IP and customer data. Yet this content faces constant threats:

– Employees accidentally sharing copyrighted or sensitive files

– Outsiders hacking and stealing data

– Brands scrambling to comply with evolving regulations like GDPR

– Hours wasted searching across fragmented systems

These risks can lead to massive fines, reputation damage, and lost productivity. But an impenetrable fortress protecting your content allows your business to thrive securely.

Transform Your DAM with iMediaflow®

CiT Digital knew traditional DAM solutions failed to blend protections and findability. Their assets were isolated in ageing systems that made search painful and compliance chaotic.

They realised smart automation and employee empowerment were the answers. But no solution provided both – until now.

iMediaflow® combines rock-solid protections with intuitive search and curation. The results are transformative:

– Automated copyright detection prevents unauthorised sharing

– Granular permissions and access tiers enable GDPR compliance

– AI powered TrueTagging delivers lightning fast search in terminology your employees understand

– Funnel cataloguing allows drag-and-drop organisation aligned to your taxonomy

– Cloud delivery and mobile access empowers global collaboration

With iMediaflow®, CiT Digital balances impenetrable protections with a system employees enjoy using to find approved assets in seconds.

TrueTagging and Funnel Cataloguing: The Keys to Your DAM Balance

CiT Digital’s success relies on two innovations: TrueTagging and Funnel cataloguing. Together they provide the missing protections and findability.

TrueTagging uses advanced AI to analyse and tag each asset with multiple relevant terms your employees naturally use. This avoids rigid taxonomies and delivers dynamic search.

Funnel cataloguing lets you easily organise assets into hierarchical category trees during upload. This structures content aligned to your business activities and user perspectives.

With TrueTagging unlocking content via relatable terms, and funnel cataloguing aligning organisation to business activities, your DAM can empower users with the perfect balance of control and discovery.

Fortify Your Future Now

By moving beyond outdated systems, you can build an impenetrable fortress to secure, manage and find digital assets for years to come like CiT Digital did with  iMediaflow®. AI and automation lift heavy compliance and organisation burdens from your employees. Access is easier than ever from any device.

A groundbreaking DAM delivers ironclad protections without sacrificing usability. This balance is the new standard for digital asset excellence.

What will your company do to implement a next-generation solution?

Our client already used Digital Solutions in the manufacture of precision engineered parts. The management were aware they had many varied digital ‘solutions’ in different areas that resulted in creating ‘silos’ with limited accessibility throughout the processes. Too many silos delayed communications, occasionally this could impact accurate and precisely planned production as well as supply performance, especially on fast track requirements.

CiT Digital analysed the client’s digital communication and departmental structure. Through collaboration at all levels we were able to suggest a solution that would create immediate and future savings through the adoption of digital transformation in the form of a unified workspace.

The concept behind iMediaflow is how any business operates, it is based on:

• • Version controls (of any form of document, drawings or data)
  • Approvals
  • Workflows
  • Projects (Including planning tools)
  • Knowledge Resource Centre (the single source of truth*)

Information in most businesses is spread over multiple apps, over time this can be locked in files, cloud, emails and projects. 

Key business assets and information is brought from existing apps into iMediaflow.  Uniquely, through pre-set taxonomy and controlled vocabulary, any asset can then be accessed by permitted stakeholders in seconds at any time in the future. This has become “the single source of truth”* i.e. fully approved and completed workflows and projects held in iMediaflow. 

There is no “coding” or specialist skill needed to manage with iMediaflow and no changes are required to existing apps. 

Areas analysed for rapid gains in efficiency were; 

• • Finance and Cost Control
  • Breakdowns
  • Unplanned maintenance
  • Idle Machines
  • Overtime
  • Increased Logistic and Delivery Costs

Using real time decision making and actions in iMediaflow (from CiT Digital), the client was able to reduce exceptional costs in the above areas by 25% (£6k) month on month as the effectiveness of the system was adapted and reviewed. 

The view was that these savings were permanent and could be bettered.

Meeting Process Deadlines

• • Missed approvals (staff absence and holidays)
  • Short Lead Time Requirements
  • Customer / Supplier mismatch on information systems 
  • New Product Development (NPD) process slow and cumbersome

A single workflow was created in iMediaflow with internal and external access controlled by granted permissions at appropriate workflow stages. This digital solution allows full visibility to all interested parties without using email or file transfers. 

All information and actions are visible in real time leading to a much more stable, planned and accurate process. 

This allows colleagues to pick up immediately on communications and projects to cover in unforeseen circumstances, no searching files and emails for information as the workflows carry all relevant information.

The client, in this case, overcame a supply issue that had previously, in similar circumstances, cost £12.5K in overtime and logistic costs.  

Workflow Visibility Challenges

• • Business accreditations require visible documented processes
  • Increased and more complex ‘workflows’
  • Problem of tracking multiple ‘workflows’
  • High levels of change – design, engineering, manufacture

With limited training CiT Digital trained staff to produce a workflow system that allowed all stakeholders to have real-time visibility, especially in NPD (New Business Development).  

This allowed managers to anticipate the impact of changing requirements earlier in their own areas. Planning became pro-active, peaks and troughs were anticipated with preparations put in place based on work mix. Approval status on all work mixes is seen clearly in real time with iMediaflow. 

This solution was developed by the client’s own team demonstrating the flexibility and benefits of a zero-code solution (no programming).

Communication Issues

• • Lack of real-time communication
  • Workflows disrupted
  • Information not available to all relevant parties
  • Lengthy unproductive meetings
  • Delays through simply ‘waiting’!

CiT Digital recommended an adapted workflow on iMediaflow as a meetings ‘hub’ for daily updates. 

The Meetings Workflow allows extraordinary information to be shared effectively in conjunction with regular update topics  e.g. delivery or quality issues, breakdowns. Team Members provide updates, critical tasks are logged and allocated in real time with all progress seen visually.

Daily update meetings have reduced from 45 minutes to 20 minutes, nothing is missed, no minutes or notes are required. Deputies and non-attendees can access up to date information in their own time with minimal or no handover required on all meeting topics. 

Job satisfaction has  increased and with far less conflict between departments. 

Health and Safety

• • Many legislative and specialist aspects
  • Need for employee engagement
  • Training
  • Risk Assessment
  • Audits

CiT Digital and the client team agreed that creating a  pro-active Health & Safety culture was a priority. 

A dedicated workflow has been established with training and updates, courses and presentations, all visible to staff allowing them to participate and sign-off on completion of necessary tasks. 

Legislation and information is updated easily and clearly. Redundant procedures are removed with an automatic audit trail to verify sources. 

iMediaflow is also used for communicating normal Risk Assessments, Dynamic Risk Assessments and all auditing.  

A positive H&S culture is now developing with less need for external consultancy support. 

Conclusions 

With the introduction of iMediaflow, the client was able to discover their business DNA through Digital Transformation and significantly improve their overall business performance – in summary;

1. 1. 1. 1. After some initial scepticism from management and staff iMediaflow has been quickly adopted as a “Unified  Workspace” for all. 
         2. Staff are already seeing the benefits from the “Knowledge Resource Centre” with new projects and complete workflow templates based on previous successes. 
         3. CiT Digital promised a 20% increase in Digital Productivity, although this is not easy to measure, the view is that this had been exceeded.
         4. A large reduction in reactive work showed improvements on systems, plant and machinery performance of between £5K and £10K per month with an increasing trend. This has come mainly from reduced downtime plus overtime and logistics savings.
         5. The client  sees the full benefits of establishing the “Knowledge Resource Centre” available to all the stakeholders, increasing engagement, having business critical information and digital assets on tap with a few keystrokes.
         6. This system has become ‘The Single Source of Truth’ with the Knowledge Resource Centre holding “The Business DNA’.

”iMediaflow is the only software I’ve seen that allows me to combine project management tools (Gantt charts, task lists, applied ownership), design files and asset management and business administration all in one place. And it allows me to quickly create processes and workflows that reflect my design and innovation processes, ensuring key milestones are met.” Head of Design

To Discover Your Business DNA

In a 25 minute introduction we can ascertain where your business could unlock savings and stop cost seepage through digital transformation..

This is a paradigm shift in how you will work, we can demonstrate how iMediaflow can help elevate your overall business performance quickly with no disruption. 

iMediaflow requires no coding, you do not have to install any software, your team can customise it quickly with guaranteed digital productivity savings of typically minimum 20%. It can be integrated with other systems and can be used for any area of your business.

Join the 4th Industrial Revolution and help discover your business DNA through Digital Transformation.

email ray@citdigital.co.uk for an informal chat

Are you happy with the way you currently manage your workflow?

Yes? That’s great if you are but did you know that a lot of organizations are blissfully unaware that their workflow isn’t the best it can be. With just a little alteration to your workflow and some additionally technology you can improve it. A move from the basic to the advance improving your day to day productivity. It will be especially true if an article by the Business 2 Community in 2019 is to be believed.

According to the Society for Human Resources Management, small companies with 100 employees or less lose $420,000 (£329,000) annually. This is due to inefficient communication occurring within the companies.

Once you have customized your workflow as far as you can before implementing technology, you can now take steps to adopt an advanced workflow. Particularly useful  when working on particular items of content. Some benefits might include:

• Tasks Complete and Before Deadlines Due

Using an advanced workflow will ensure you never again have the stress of having to rush. Supporting items can often be completes as part of an active campaign just seconds before the deadline is due.

• Track Where Colleagues Are At

Having a workflow in place ensures you know not only what tasks need to be done by you or other users. You are able to monitor where users are at, with regards to progress, for many content items. This greatly improves your efficiency and leaves you time to work on other tasks. Critically it also prevents time being wasted.

• Communications Have Improved

Never again will messages get mixed up like a game of Chinese whispers. A consistent workflow will enable users to be able to see the tasks that need completing. Each task will be clearly spelt out.

• Quality of Your Service

By following a well thought out Advanced Workflow you will reduce the chance of error. Overall this will improve the quality of your products and services.

How does this work in practice?

Let’s keep this simple, you need to produce a 2-page flyer. That flyer might support a key account or is to be handed out to consumers/customers during an event. You have an idea in your mind what you need to create. There might be stakeholders contributing into the project,  such as a writer or designer. If you were the graphic designer in this scenario, you might work with contributors or image libraries to secure files.

What might the stages of a workflow look like?

• • Stage 1: Designer uploads all imagery that could be used
  • Stage 2: A project leader picks out relevant imagery
  • Stage 3: The support team would make checks in terms of quality
  • Stage 4: Designer would secures feedback and make amendments/design alterations
  • Stage 5: Designer can re-upload and continue to amend and re-upload with the project leader checking these. Each version recorded as you upload, meaning you can go back and forth between multiple versions as they were delivered. This is particularly handy when ensuring off-site contributors are actioning iterations/amendments correctly.
  • Stage 6: With all graphics approved, and the design of the flyer has been achieved? The designer can now place this into the portal for use by all relevant stakeholders.

An opportunity for most organisations

So, without an advanced workflow in place it’s apparent that you and your organization will be missing out on an endless amount of opportunities. Those opportunities are to improve not only the work process but ensure your product/ service is the best it can be. In this modern-day digital era, you wouldn’t be surprised to hear that not a lot of businesses are implementing such solutions.

“Out of 2000 work activities (across 800 professions), 45% could be automated, including processing sales transactions, demonstrating product features, and answering product questions”

There are many sophisticated digital solutions out there

It can be hard to choose which one is ideal for your organization. So why not get your hands on a Digital Asset Management (DAM) Solution from CiT Digital. Find out more about the many features a DAM has to offer and maintain your businesses workflow!

So, what do we mean by ‘manage your workflow’ more easily?

Firstly, what do we mean when we say manage your workflow? What we mean is having a step by step plan in place to ensure your business follows the right criteria for getting work complete on a day to day basis.  By having a consistent workflow in place, you can be sure that your projects are being completed, and as a well renowned list making application tool Trello might say, ensure you are getting your productivity in order.

“Do I need a workflow in places for my business?”

To determine whether your business needs a consistent workflow in place, you need to take a step back and ask yourself a few questions:

Are tasks and projects being completed on time?

The phrase ‘time is of the essence’ gets passed around a lot of business on a day to day basis, but the truth of the matter is that time is of the essence and each time your organization loses too much time on projects, a cost impact is felt, regardless of if it’s other businesses, the taxpayer or the generosity of donors that funds that cost.

Do you know where colleagues/ users are at during a task?

Communication is key, and the opportunities we each have to communicate effectively in today’s digital era is growing. Software developers for example, can now do this in dozens of ways. So why should you have to chase after people to see where they are at with a project when you could simply be logging in and viewing it as part of a well-structured workflow?

Do certain projects need to be done in a certain way?

Like baking a cake you can’t skip ingredients/ steps. Otherwise you can expect it to turn out the same as some disasters on the Great British Bake Off. This applies when certain project needs to be approached in an alternative way. Do you agree?

These are just a few questions that may leave your wondering if your business needs a consistent workflow…

How to Identify a problem in your workflow?

• Firstly, note down your current workflow. By doing this you will be able to see what your current processes looks like when you take a step back, you may already be able to identify new things you may not have thought about improving.

• Secondly, start moving and applying new sections. By pinpointing the gaps in your workflow, you will be able to amend stages to your workflow to get the best out of your business productivity.

• Next, implement your newly amended plan on to a software solution. By doing this you and your organization will have a much clearer view of what is needed to be done and stay on track during the project.

For example, one successful business that has implemented a digital workflow is the tech firm Intel. They claim that ‘operational efficiency is their key to profitability’. The company in 2018 spent over $13 bn on its R & D, a large proportion of this spend focused on workflow, to deliver the company’s products to market. A key focus was on automation and intelligence. This  year end that yielded $29.4 bn cash from Ops. $16.3bn of which was then given to shareholders.

These questions are a bit simple to ask but it is amazing how many professionals we speak to lose sight of the fundamentals. It occurs when facing significant stakeholder pressure and work requirements.  Simple self-review exercises and time away from delivery will gain you perspective. In this way you will define how your current workflow can be improved.

Of course, the improvements you make can be furthered by technology.  In this case through advanced workflow technology.  This features in some Digital Asset Management solutions. You can read more about such systems, and workflow mechanisms such as ‘version control’ on our dam-solutions blog page.

The basics

First things first, have you been eagerly working on a live content schedule, designing and developing deliverables ready for outbound,. However you have realized just before it goes out that it looks off-brand. Well, you aren’t alone. Unlike your designs being slightly off-tone or unformatted, there are some incredible off-brand products /campaigns in the world, as reported by Lucy Huber. Prongles and packs of Bitcoins were our personal favorites.

Perspective is a beautiful thing

It’s all about perspective, but of course, it makes it no easier. When digital assets deviate away from your Brand Guidelines, it puts to waste the time and effort that has been invested into a deliverable – 😠.  This is particularly hard to manage for any marketing professional that supports or oversees a large sales force. Worse, when added to the mix are subsidiaries or media partners/agencies which represent the brand on the business’s behalf. It is easy to find humor in the hilarious and incredible misrepresentations of the brand but they also serve as lessons.That learning has led to the ANA (Association of National Advertisers) in the States calling for brands to hire ‘Chief Media Officer’s. This in their mind would ensure transparency and media accountability in the industry, as reported by the Drum.

How does this apply in your business environments though?

So, let’s say your organization probably can’t afford a CMO and you already understand the risks of not sticking to brand guidelines. What therefore are the typical pitfalls you might face?

• Wrong House Colors
  Have you ever associated Coca Cola with blue? Colour misuse, verging on the extreme in terms of a different colour schemes being used is a common mistake. When you look at a certain colour or colour combination, as you know, you instantly know the brand before you’ve seen the name or even the logo.

• Which logo?
  If you’ve ever completed a re-branding process, you know you will double take whenever someone asks, ‘can I have the logo?’… ‘Which logo?’. During the re-branding process you’ve been through every conceivable logo, every resizing option, every color variation etc. Yet, it is amazing how many differing versions amass within organizations despite these great efforts.

• Wrong Font in Your Latest Campaign
  Not using the font you agreed on in your brand guidelines in the latest campaign is a typical mistake. For example, can you imagine Vogue replacing there glamorous Bodoni font for a comic sans type face?

Get the basics right before your brand is recognized by the masses

These are just a few examples of how some organizations/businesses may be affected by not having a well thought out brand guidelines in place 😲. However, if you can avoid these mistakes and manage your stakeholders well, there is enormous power in branding. As stated correctly by the Design Council, brands are on a constant evolution, and especially in an era of viral content possibilities, your brand could be front and centre in the minds of millions of consumers/customers.

How can you automate and police your brand guidelines?

Need some help automating and policing your brand guidelines? One such way, is using a Digital Asset Management (DAM) Solution. What is a DAM you might ask? It is a digital library from which you can manage your imagery, content and digital assets easily to fit around how your organization’s works. Part of the system will monitor and check that your most up to date brand guidelines are being adhered to as imagery/content is being downloaded for use. In so doing, you’ll save time and catch out mistakes by stakeholders through the system. Phew, that’s one less thing to worry about . . .

Your brand is more than just products/services

One of the most important assets an organization has is its brand. Beyond the front facing design of a logo a brand represents more than just the products and services you are selling. It also represents the beliefs and expectations surrounding it, an emotional statement which consumers or business customers recognize at a psychological level. For example, think about the companies Lego, Apple, PlayStation, Netflix and Spotify . Many of these would likely stir up a sense of affection and affinity in the minds of many consumers? This is precisely why, as reported by CityWire, that these brands are in the top 25 “Consumer’s Brand Choice”.

These companies were not always revered and rated as such. It took significant brand management work over many months and years to develop these incredible brands. As such, and in order to further the work of the marketer’s efforts, brand consistency is of ever-increasing importance in any business. Ensuring your brand is sticking to the right guidelines will reflect how outside users see your business. What might these brand guidelines consist of you might ask?

Brand guidelines consist of numerous components

Brand Guidelines

consists of several things such as logos, house colors, font types, image size, file type, images, and many other factors. These reflect your business’s identity. So, you can see how it is an increasingly important protection for any business. Many have fallen foul of this simple advice, brands not delivering the right message, such as Levi’s ‘hotness comes in all sizes’  campaign back in 2016.

In principle it sounded like the makings of a great campaign. It began by promoting fashion to cater for everybody shape, reminiscent of typical campaigns delivered recently by the Simple Be Women’s brand.  That campaign had successfully promoted body acceptance. Sadly, for Levi’s it’s own campaign would simply not be a fanfare of praise and attention. Following the imagery that accompanied the slogan, it all went a bit Pete Tong for the brand . . .

Where brand guidelines didn’t fit for Levi’s

The campaign was brought to a halt when the accompanying images (above) of 3 women displayed similarly sized and slim models. The campaign sparked quite a flap, as reported by CBS News at the time .This in turn generated significant anger and ridicule, consumers confused by the off-point messaging. As you can see not only does your brand guidelines ensure your brand looks consistent but ensures that your message reflects what you are portraying. You don’t want to be making a mistake when promoting your organization do you?

In this digital era, you wouldn’t be surprised to hear that there are technologies that can help avoid these nightmares. The digital market has specialized to ensure businesses can stick to their brand guidelines. It has even affected how we as a Digital Asset Management (DAM) specialists deliver our software. Brand consistency features are now a standard feature in the system we offer to our corporate customers.

How did we help the Woodland Trust?

Following various talks together during a tendering process, we were honored that the Trust turned to us to provide that solution. We wanted to not only enable the team to deliver out more Comms but to provide a system that reduced other internal headaches. The solution was a new type of DAM (Digital Asset management) system. Our marketing team interrupt this story to instruct us that it is to be called by its proper (and trademarked) name, IMediaFlow (R). This new system fixed many of the cataloging and search issues the team had been experiencing. How did we do this though?

The solution

As per our Woodland Trust Media Library case study, we were able to first help the content managers. We did so by implementing tagging/search mechanisms called ‘catalogue tree structures’ and ‘funnel cataloguing’. This meant that all images and digital content being ingested would be tagged and cataloged in a partly automated way. It would also be done using language and nodes which store the content in precise and specific terms. Upon taking up the system, the content managers immediately had their ‘upload’ times decreased.

They could also find much of the content they had struggled to find previously. This left them with plenty of time to focus on new content and collections that needed to be ingested. Oh, and on top of that, when the system was implemented, we helped with a backlog of digital content. This involved us ingesting all the 70K of images from their legacy DAM system and some other images that had been in holding.

They weren’t the only ones that were happy

So now we had relieved and happy content managers, now we needed to share the same joy with the various internal stakeholders and volunteers. Particular stakeholders in need of TLC were the creative, Comms and marketing professionals who needed that content most.  As the ingestion of the content was now so specific, it helped the team to deliver various searching much faster and far more easily. All stakeholders could now find the content they needed far more quickly and now collaborate with each other on projects. And not just for images, but also a wide variety of digital content and materials.

There were other benefits outside of image search and cataloging

The content managers got further peace of mind as they could manage user access levels within the tool. This meant they could track and monitor account activity. They also didn’t need to deliver vast amounts of training on the system. This was because the system is very intuitive and customized, tailored with the various language used by the Trust.

Furthermore, as trust and confidence re-developed, the content managers could start sharing duties with other staff members. The system made it easy for multiple contributors to safely be involved. This was whilst the rest of the team had the trust to now start handing over private content. This meant that the central system could now store digital content and serve all.  Better still, once the content was in, staff members could easily assign campaigns and projects in the system. They could also then share these externally with suppliers, agencies or staff. This could be done without fear of other materials other than that shared being accessed.

Conclusion

Phew . . . That was a lot of improvements! And there was more achieved than than that stated thus far. We are not responsible for the incredible work the Trust does day to day. Not responsible for the millions of trees now in the ground or woods now conserved. And we are not responsible for the vast network of like-minded subscribers and well-wishers involved in this great organization.

However, we are very happy and proud we could help solve and provide the systems and background effort that the Woodland Trust needs. With vastly better processes and systems now in place centrally, the trust can put more focus outbound to the community it serves. We are proud to now witness the team now freer, seeing some of the amazing campaigns and work they now deliver.

At the time, Colin Wood, a freelance designer at Grapefruit Creative, and an external stakeholder of the old system said of us. “I’d just like to say what a fantastic job you have done in creating the new media library. The interface and ease of use is just amazing. And now it can be accessed remotely is just a dream come true. Well done!”

Do you have similar headaches? Think we can help? Feel free to get in touch or find out more about the corporate service we offer.

You probably have sent a message to the wrong person or the wrong message to a certain individual. It doesn’t make it any easier though as none of us want to mess up when it comes to getting in touch with someone. Especially in a day to day business environment. Just to emphasis our point on why you should double check before you send, we have provided you with some real-life examples:

Example 1 – Are you ready to Party…No…

Firstly well we’ll just let you feel the pain of this poor guy who missed out on a party…

Example 2 – The Calling in Sick Message

Out of all the wrong messages you can send, no other way of doing so is easier than sending a text message to the wrong person.

Having all your contacts that close together in a smart device, you can be sure to have some fatal errors from time to time. Especially for this individual from the US who did send an original text to his boss. He meant to say he was “sick”, then, well it all went a bit wrong by the second text . . .

We hope that fishing trip was worth it

The first text sent informed his boss that he would not be in the office as he was coming down with a horrible illness.  Just moments after he sent a second message. ‘Got my fishing rods lined up. Cooler is full of beer and boat is in the water. See you at the dock in 20.’

I think we all felt his head hit the palm of his hand after sending that message.

Example 3 – Cats! (Not the musical)

A wrong message can usually have a bad ending to it. But not always…

In 2014 the life accessories brand Fab sent an email out. It contained images of multiple cats, but something was wrong straight way.

The subject line entitled “[TEST] PM Tracking Test” indicated straight away that this clearly wasn’t meant to go out. Especially to the 100,000 customers that received it. But all was not a disaster!

Just a few hours later Fab followed-up with all the customers who received the wrong email. It was delivered with a well-crafted email about their message. The message involved cat puns, more images of cats and even more generous 10% discount!

As you can imagine this put a smile on a lot of people’s faces. Well done to the marketing team on turning around. A beautiful example of turning an email disaster into a victory!

Example 4 – Top Secret Example

Even back in year 2000, when technology was just coming into play, people were hitting the send button before realizing who the email was going to. In this case, out of all the organizations that were going to commit this error you wouldn’t expect it to be the pentagon, would you?

A UK schoolgirl in Devon, Claire McDonald, was minding her own business when she received 11 emails each day for the following 6 months. These emails were coming from a top-secret source at none other than the pentagon in the US. Turns out Claire had been added to a recipients list.

After receiving a total of 250 sensitive emails, each of which contained classified information about the UK’s military secrets, 15-year-old Clare got in touch with the British Navy.

Talk about receiving a wrong email, but how about that training in espionage in the meantime . . .

Example 5 – 4,3,2,1, No blast off

A typo can be easily be forgiven here and there but usually isn’t a costly issue. But in this case a typo could cost you quite a bit. Up to $80 Million in fact…

In 1962 NASA were ready to launch Mariner 1 which would have been the first interplanetary probe to get up close with Venus. Well it would have if there wasn’t a typo.

Even though hyphens don’t have a massive impact in day to day typo issues, they sure did in this costly mission. Due to the singular absence of a hyphen the probe that was meant to go to infinity and beyond never made it off the ground. Instead the space craft exploded.

The Space Odyssey Novelist Arthur G Clarke described it as “the most expensive hyphen in history.” And he was not wrong…

Make sure you double check before you send or take off!

Inevitably we have all sent or will send the odd wrong message or wrong email to the wrong person. Hopefully though it won’t cost you $80 million.

CiT Digital are a Digital Asset Management (DAM) Solutions provider, which gives various organizations peace of mind as regards to their digital assets being made safe and secure. You can find out more about them and their solutions on their features page.